right now on "andrea mitchell reports," a dignified transfer at dover air force base today as the four fallen military service members who lost their lives fighting in afghanistan on sunday arrive home. their families denied military death benefits that would have covered the cost of traveling

here to dover as well as funeral expenses. this heartbreaking impact of the government shutdown has now sparked a national outrage, one that washington can no longer ignore. >> shouldn't we, as a body, republican, democrat, no matter who we are, shouldn't we be embarrassed about this? shouldn't we be ashamed? >> now congress plans to act. the house will vote today at 3:00 to reinstate the death benefits. the senate as well. the chaplain appealed to a higher power. >> lord, when our federal shutdown delays payments of death benefits to the families of children dying on faraway battlefields, it's time for our lawmakers to say enough is

enough. >> no deal, no surrender. are president obama and speaker boehner farther apart than ever? >> we can't make extortion routine as part of our democracy. democracy doesn't function this way. >> what the president said today was if there's unconditional surrender by republicans, he'll sit down and talk to us. that's not the way our government works. >> and a fed first, when president obama today nominates janet yellen as the next federal reserve chair this afternoon. she'll be shattering one of the highest glass ceilings left for women. and good day. i'm andrea mitchell. today at dover air force base, a

somber day as the bodies of four american service members arrived here, as they were met by secretary of defense chuck hagel. back in washington, the secretary of veterans affairs is warning of further benefit cuts to come if the shutdown continues until november 1st. >> let me just say unequivocally that all the effects that i described and i'm going to describe of the shutdown are negative. it's an immaterial pedimentme - it's an impediment. >> as many as 5.1 million veterans would start losing their regular veterans benefits, not these death benefits. retired army colonel jack jacobs

joins me now. jack, you've seen these dignified returns. this, as sad as any of them, but the poignancy and outrage expressed across the nation that death benefits were not paid. families did get here. the family of private first class cody patterson was here. that was the one family that was authorized coverage. the fact that members of the military and their families are not being protected by this grateful nation for their ultimate sacrifice has really outraged the country. >> it is outrageous. to paraphase, i don't think anybody can underestimate the intelligence, dedication, sensitivity or prague mattism of the american government. it's almost as if there's nothing that they will do or not do that will defy your

sensibilities. it is outrageous and something i hope they're going to do something about it. it just points out how -- what a lack of focus the american government has. by the way, on both ends of pennsylvania avenue. what a lack of focus the government has on the needs and requirements of american citizens. i hope this particular situation will get redressed very quickly. >> and we have this quotation. peter alexander provided this from the white house today. the obama administration, the department of defense informed congress and the public that the department would be legally unable to pay death benefits were there to be a lapse in dod appropriations and unfortunately, said the administration, this issue was not explicitly addressed as part of the pay our military act, which congress did pass last week. the president was very disturbed to learn of this problem and directed dod to work with omb and his lawyers to develop a possible solution. well, this, of course, is

counteracted by duncan hunter and other republican members of congress and the military branch who say that they believe that the pay our military act did cover it. so you've got this additional dispute between both ends of pennsylvania avenue as to whether the congressional fix worked or didn't. in any case, it obviously didn't work because the death benefits aren't being paid. now the house is voting this afternoon. then it will go to the senate. there could be unanimous consent. the senate could take it up quickly as the house has. jack, the larger issue is the role of the military in our society, they are -- you and all of your fellow veterans are in a very special category. we should point out that congress is going to act very quickly today, likely, because these are our service members who were killed in battle. but what about all of the other people affected by the shutdown?

we're talking about single moms who can't get food for their kids. we're talking about children not in head start. this is a bigger problem. >> i was going to say when you mentioned the military establishment, i was going to say exactly what you did. we have a small group of young men and women who are defending a very large number of us. it's important that we as a nation and the government who gets paid to do these things focus attention on these people who are serving us. but there are lots of other people who require the government's attention. you mentioned just a few of them. we have a tendency through politics to throw out everything all at one time because we have people who are -- we elect to office, both high and low, who are insensitive to the needs not just of individuals but are insensitive to the requirements of supporting and running a

great republic to the extent that we don't pay any attention to that. we will permit the government to do that again and again. we have to make sure they understand that there are 310 million people who are not going to sit still for them. >> colonel jack jacob, thank you. thank you so much for being with us today. joining me now to discuss the politics of this show, chris cillizza, msnbc contributor, and chuck todd, nbc news chief white house correspondent and political director. chuck, you have been picking up signals at the white house of president being willing to accept a short-term continuing resolution or spending bill. we've also picked up some signals from john boehner that he's no longer speaking specifically about obama care. he seems to be a little more flexible in his rhetoric. what's happening behind the scenes do you think? >> the question is -- well, there's a couple things happening.

on capitol hill, what john boehner is very carefully trying to do is -- and you saw it yesterday. they floated the idea of super committee. they're looking at process vehicles, andrea. they're no longer looking at policy vehicles in order to reopen the government or deal with the debt ceiling. so what does that mean when i say that? well, for instance, the last time they rose the debt ceiling, it was attached to the idea democrats had to pass a budget or they'd lose their pay. there was a little bit of punishment if something didn't happen in exchange for the debt ceiling raised. so it's something processy like that, nothing specifically on policy. boehner's trying this out, trying to see how much support there is inside the conference on it. look, outside conservative grassroots groups, there's a big disagreement going on about the paul ryan approach, which is this is essentially what ryan's endorsing. hey, let's try to have a larger conversation, let's force this

conversation. i don't know if the conservative grassroots are going to buy this. they want health care and to get rid of it come heck or high water. i don't know if they're going to be satisfied with this way out that boehner is trying to find now, but that's what's going on. >> and i think you point out the paul ryan op-ed in "the wall street journal" is significant, chris. this is beginning to lay out a possible path out by someone who is certainly a bona fide conservative on fiscal policy. maybe he and others can persuade some of the tea party regulars that they have to give up on the health care issue and think of the broader issue of entitlement reform. >> you're right, andrea. what we have learned from the first nine months of the 113th congress is that there are four dozen or so republicans in the house who simply will not listen to what john boehner wants.

i would say once they know what john boehner wants, almost sort of go in the other direction. the question is -- and that basically goes for eric cantor, the house majority leader, too. the question is, does paul ryan have the heft to convince them that you're not going to get the repeal or the defunding of president obama's health care law. we have to sort of move forward in a conservative way. there's a conservative, emphasis on conservative, solution here that involves reopening the government and raising the debt ceiling. i don't know if anyone in the republican conference is that persuasi persuasive. ryan is probably the best bet at this point. you know, it's a lot to put on him to say, okay, now convince everyone of this. >> and chuck, i want to ask you about what the senate might do.

we know the house is going to vote for this, this afternoon. they pick it up at 3:00. the senate could take it up very quickly by unanimous consent. harry reid, this is what he had to say yesterday about the death benefits not being afforded to these families. >> right now we have two avenues. we're going to see what the house does and the white house and the pentagon are working to see if they can do something about it. >> that was harry reid today. chuck, do you think that's going to be worked out? >> yeah, i was just going to say that's the answer you give when you realize you're -- even though they've been holding the line on dealing with piecemeal bills that the house sends over, that's the answer you give when you know you're about to go ahead and vote on a piecemeal bill that the house is going to send over. i think this is going to get fast tracked, andrea. you can tell there's a lot of discomfort about how all this has played out. when it comes to the military,

you'll see -- look how quickly they did the pay. make sure they're going to get their paychecks on time. this is going to -- clear sailing, you can never say that anymore, but it certainly looks like it. >> i'm still trying to figure out how they didn't know about this. why was it that our report, frankly, on nbc on the "today" show, had to tell congress what these families are going through? we picked it up. we heard about it from military families. >> not only that, andrea, you know, we knew about this before the shutdown, that this was -- so this was sitting out there. the pentagon was briefing reporters about this as a potential issue. so, you know, it's one of these things where the administration should have known better, congress should have known better, somebody at the pentagon seemed to know before the shutdown happened that this was going to be one of the things that was going to be vulnerable here. so at this point, you know, pox

on everybody. administration should have seen this. somebody should have flagged it. somebody should have flagged congress during the pay the military act. >> exactly right. chuck todd, chris cillizza, thank you both very much. as we have been reporting, the bodies of four fallen military service members who were killed on sunday in afghanistan were met by their grieving family members earlier today right here at dover air force base. they were killed by an improvised explosive device during a combat mission in kandahar province. sergeant patrick hawkins, u.s. army ranger from carlisle, pennsylvania. he was moving to the aid of a fellow wounded ranger when he was killed. patrick had just celebrated his 25th birthday. 24-year-old private first class cody james patterson was also an army ranger. he was the r the regiment's manneder said he had a limitless future

he would have successful in whatever path he had chosen in life. he chose to serve his country by volunteering for the most difficult and challenging duties of a united states army ranger. first lieutenant jennifer moreno was a member of the cultural support team at the u.s. army special operations command. the 25-year-old was from san diego, california, and previously had served as a surgical nurse in the army. her former high school rotc instructor said that jennifer was always thinking about others and always trying to do better for them. and special agent joseph peters was 24 years old. he was a former intelligence officer from springfield, missouri. he was serving his third deployment in afghanistan after two tours in iraq. peters was the father of a 20-month-old son gabriel. [ coughs, sneezes ] i have a big meeting when we land, but i am so stuffed up, i can't rest. [ male announcer ] nyquil cold and flu liquid gels don't unstuff your nose. they don't?

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congress has come under fire for the lapse in death benefits to the families of those fallen service members thanks to the shutdown, of course. this would continue except for the fact a private charity, the fisher house foundation, has offered to pay the death benefits, demonstrating what is so great about this country. joining me now is the chairman and ceo of the fisher house foundation, ken fisher. mr. fisher, thank you very much. thank you for so many reasons. i was talking to one of the family members, shannon collins, last night, the mother of jeremiah collins. to the fact you have stepped up for these families, for those who don't have the resources is so extraordinary. tell me how you reacted to this and why you came forward. >> well, it was really seeing -- somebody had sent me a link to the story you did.

that's what made me aware of this situation. and this was one of those decisions, andrea, that i wish i had every day, which is the no-brainer kind i had mobilized my board almost immediately, and some time shortly thereafter i received a phone call from senator mansion from west virginia asking if fisher house would step up and actually fill this gap. fisher house has always been about family, so you know, it was something that i just felt compelled to do. >> you know, chuck todd just interpreted what harry reid was saying today as the fact that this would get fixed, and now jay carney has just said the president believes this will be fixed today. so you're going to find extraordinary action. when they want to do something, when they feel political pressure. look, the house is going to vote today. there hasn't been any of the usual rigmorole, if i may, and

the senate is going to vote this afternoon and it's going to get signed by the president just like that. why this couldn't happen before hand and why all the others who have so egregiously affected by the shutdown can't be fixed, why the shutdown can't end is a whole other question. tell me more about fisher house. i know more about what you do, but tell our viewers what you do every day for our veterans. >> andrea, fisher house provides a home away from home for families of servicemen and women and veterans requiring hospitalization. there's no charge to stay in the fisher house. they stay in these houses as long as they want to. so fisher house has been primarily about the healing process, but we actually had built one at dover air force base for the families of the fallen because we found out that there was no affordable place for them to stay. after doing the unthinkable, you know, at crazy hours of the morning, they would have to get in a car and drive to a cheap motel, and that was just not indicative of the sacrifices

that they made. that brings us back to why we're talking today. >> let me just share with you -- you probably know this, but when i found this out, this sent me over the edge. according to the law, if you donated your death benefits, this money, through the pentagon, it would be illegal. they could not accept this because it wasn't appropriated funds. so you have to do this individually through the families. that's my understanding, at least, from what we're being told by u.s. officials. >> it's my understanding as well, and you know, this is one case where we are not going to become embroiled in the red tape and bureaucracy. we have forchecur checks cut ri now ready to go. we still have to interact with the pentagon in terms of privacy issues, et cetera. if i have to drive down there and deliver them myself, that's what's going to happen. >> ken fisher, i thank you, and

having talked to some of the families, they, as you know, are very, very grateful. so are the men and women on post here. you know, just every military member, our service members are very grateful for what you do. thank you. >> well, it's a privilege to be able to do it. i just hope that somebody wakes up down there and decides that enough is enough and people are suffering because of this, especially the 1% of this nation that raises their hand and goes and serves to defend us. when they raised their hand, they take an oath. we also take an oath. we take an oath to take care of them if they're wounded, either mentally or physically, and we take an oath to take care of their families if they don't make it home. that's what has to happen right now. >> thank you. thank you for saying that. >> thank you. >> as i just mentioned moments ago, the white house press secretary jay carney at the

briefing addressed the suspension of military death benefits and indicated it will be fixed. >> -- fixed today. >> oh, so today? >> correct. >> this should be resolved? >> as the president expressed, he was not pleased to learn of this problem. he has directed the omb and his lawyers to find a solution and he expects to have one today. >> and getting back to the debt ceiling, we know that october 17th is the sort of deadline that was set by the treasury secretary, and i'm just wondering, the last time we went through this exercise we didn't even go into default. >> and now in day nine of the shutdown, the impact is continuing to be far reaching. it is spreading. at the centers for disease control, for instance, some furloughed employees did return to work today to help track a fast-moving salmonella outbreak linked to chicken that has been raising new questions about whether the government could be doing more to stop that

outbreak. another group impacted by the shutdown, federal prison workers. throughout the country some correctional officers are working without pay, including at the federal prison in ft. worth. >> it's frustrating when you see congressmen getting paid while we're not. we're not being paid because they can't decide to meet in a room and solve problems. that's frustrating. >> and north carolina has run out of money for wic. that is, of course, the special supplemental nutrition program for women, infants, and children. it's a critical program that helps ensure pregnant women, knew mothenew mothers and young children have access to sufficient nutrition. the program serves 264,000 people in north carolina, but starting today, they will stop issuing new food vouchers. [ male announcer ] playing in the nfl is tough. ♪

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the house of representatives, which refuses to reopen the government, is now scurrying to pass a little bill to take care of these families. let's get that bill in, they said. we don't want to face the embarrassment of another headline like this. that isn't enough, madam president. it isn't nearly enough. >> the legislation that is rapidly speeding to the house floor today assuring that the families of fallen u.s. service members will get the death gratuity benefits is expected to pass with democratic votes. do house democrats expect their counterparts to follow suit and end this truly shameful result of the shutdown? maryland congressman chris van holland joins me now. we know from jay carney that the president expects this to be fixed today. that indicates that the senate is going to vote, i assume a unanimous consent, and they'll quickly get it to the oval office.

>> either that or as jay carney indicated, the team at the white house and omb may find another way. either way, however it's done, this will be taken care of. andre andrea, it simply highlights the fact that the best way and most immediate way to address all these issues would be if the speaker of the house would simply allow a vote in the house of representatives because the votes are here, democrats and republicans together, to open the entire government now without conditions. then you wouldn't have these kind of circumstances arising day by day. >> now, chuck todd and his team has been counting. we count about 220 votes. so we figure 200 democratic votes and you would have at least 20 republican votes. is that what your whip count shows? >> that's right. all you have to do is look at the public statements of different members ofcongress, and you've got at least that many republican house members who said they would vote for a

continuing resolution to immediately open the government now, the kind of bill that's sitting before the house of representatives today and which if we voted on today the president could sign the bill, he could take care immediately of all the military families that we're talking about but also everybody else who's, you know, waiting for the federal government to open. we could get it done now. we have the votes to do it. in fact, we have also filed what we call a discharge petition, and we expect by saturday we'll begin to collect the signatures and a lot of those members, those republican members who say they want to immediately open the government, will now have an opportunity to sign that discharge petition and force the speaker to allow this to come to a vote. we've sent letters to all of them citing their public statements and encouraging them to join us in that effort. >> although, you know, it's one thing to say you'll vote for something. it's another to take the unusual step to sign a discharge

petition because that really is challenging the speaker where it hurts. i wanted to ask you also about how this could have happened. the pentagon was warning people. there are republican colleagues, duncan hunter and others, who say this is an overly narrow interpretation by the controller and the lawyers and the attorney general all the way up to the attorney general, according to the pentagon, that eric holder signed off on this. how can one lawyer say that this was not covered under the other legislation that was passed, the small legislation to fix shutdown problems, and how could the white house have not been aware? >> well, andrea, this is another situation where, you know, our republican colleagues vote to shut down the government. they keep the government shut down by refusing a full vote in the house and say they're shocked that there are these

unintended consequences when the administration is trying to enforce the law of the government shutdown. again, the fastest way to remove all these problems would be to have that vote today and get it passed. every day you're going to find more and more unintended consequences. when you shut down the government and you keep it shut down, bad things happen. the best way to make sure those bad things don't keep happening is to allow the vote on opening the government. as you know, on sad, last saturday, the house of representatives voted unanimously to make sure we don't penalize federal employees because these bad things are happening through nothing they did wrong. so we said we're going to make sure all of them get back pay. so the question is, if we're going to be providing federal employees pay for today and yesterday and tomorrow, why in the world would we pay them to stay at home? why wouldn't we make sure that they get paid to come to work on behalf of the american people?

it's a crazy situation. >> and finally, do you have a message to these families blg, family who came here today to receive their fallen sons and a daughter? what would you say to these families who frankly feel that the army has taken care of them, the marines took care of jeremiah collins, but they feel really rejected and neglected by the politicians on both sides of the aisle, congressman. >> well, andrea, i would first of all say how grateful the country is for the service of their loved ones. obviously, the whole country is grateful for the sacrifice both their loved ones and these families are making for the country. it is the responsibility of the country to make sure that we meet our obligations and say thank you not just in words but

in deeds. that's why it's important to get this done now, not a minute from now. i think this will be done by the end of the day. >> thank you very much. thank you, congressman chris van hollen. >> thank you. >> and coming up, we'll have more on this special edition of "andrea mitchell reports." we're live from dover air force base. ♪ [ male announcer ] let's go places. but let's be ready. ♪ let's do our homework. ♪ let's look out for each other. let's look both ways before crossing. ♪ let's remember what's important. let's be optimistic. but just in case -- let's be ready. toyota. let's go places, safely.

but just in case -- let's be ready. rep. rokita: obamacare hurts this country much more than any government shutdown. vo: reckless. rep. blackburn: people are probably going to realize... they can live with a lot less government. vo: destructive. rep. bachmann: this is about the happiest i've seen members in a long time. vo: the government shutdown is hurting veterans, seniors, and our kids. now tea party republicans are threatening... an economic shutdown. refusing to pay our nation's bills. endangering american jobs. tell them to stand up to the tea party. enough already!

history will be made at the white house today. this afternoon president obama will nominate janet yellen as chair of the federal reserve system. the first woman in history to hold that post. the financial times' jillian ted joins me now along with msnbc's senior political analyst mark halperin. welcome, both. jillian, you cover this full time.

this is a very big deal. obviously not the president's first choice, but janet yellen well known as a superb economist. she's the vice chair of the fed. she was the president of the san francisco fed, which is the largest of the 12 fed districts. so she's had a lot of experience. she was head of the council on economic advisers. what problems might she experience in confirmation? we know bob corker of tennessee, senior member on the banking committee on the republican side, has raised questions. >> well, if you want to see what kind of problem she could face, you need to only look at the report coming from the international monetary fund today predicting that if or when the fed start retracting monetary policy, investors could see $2.3 trillion worth of losses. there's a big, big challenge awaiting whoever becomes fed chairman. we now know it's janet yellen, which is simply that we've had unprecedented experiments in monetary policy the last few years. getting out of these experiments is going to be extremely tough.

>> and mark, what ben bernanke did with janet yellen as part of his team was extraordinary, as jillian has just pointed out. unwinding from that is the challenge. doing it with congress and all the political pressures that one gets when you have to face this kind of very unusual situation. >> he's been the most open fed chair in history in many ways, in line with a sort of general demand on the far left and far light and the populous of this country to be more transparent. i would say he's not been as reassuring a figure given the tough economic times as some people would have liked. the real challenge for her now is to step out of the shadow of not being the president's first choice, of someone whose communication skills are now going to be tested. i suspect she will be under pressure on capitol hill but also with the public to be not just more open but more reassuring because it's clear that while the economy is doing

better in some ways, the fed is going to play a huge role in making a lot of important decisions as we go forward in terms of choices to keep things moving faster than they've gone, which is what we need. >> and of course overriding everything right now is the immediate crisis of the debt ceiling, which while technically there's a date of october 17th, most experts think it's really toward the end of the month when things it really get kind of dicey. i interviewed senator toomey yesterday. he and his republican colleagues say this shouldn't be that big of a deal, that the treasury can pick and choose what they want to pay, they can pay the foreign bondholders and take care of those interest payments without jeopardizing the full credit of the united states government. what say you? >> well, personally speaking, i think that's completely wrong. the reality is that even if it picks and chooses what payments it's going to prioritize, if it does carry on paying interest on the bonds, that could be subject

to legal challenge. although the details are complex, a key point to understand is that the financial plumbing of america's system today depends on having lots of treasury bonds used as collateral in financial transactions. if the bankers start to fear those treasury bonds could be subject to legal challenge, then frankly that system gums up. and you're already seeing that in the markets. they're talking about the october halloween fright in the sense that bonds which are due to expire after that october the 17th date, short-term bonds, are already seeing some really big gyrations in their pricing in the markets that frankly we haven't seen since 2008. >> and we all know that october can be a dicey month in the markets. mark, you alluded to the fact that janet yellen was not the first choice. we all know that the white house has broadly and probably appropriately preferred larry

summers. when that run into trouble on the hill, they had to back down. how much problem does that create for janet yellen's leadership? >> i'm surprised in some ways the president picked her. he sort of gave in. although, she's obviously very qualified for the position. he's kind of given into his critics. a lot of democratic senators who pushed for her, unusual to put that much pressure on a president of your own party to pick her. i think she's going to be under a lot of pressure because, again, she's not very well known. she doesn't have the profile of some past chairs. it's a tough job to do under any circumstances. given how much scrutiny they're under now for the policies of the last couple years that chairman bernanke has pursued, given how important ova role they're going to need to play, i think her hearings are going to be the most watched fed chair nominee hearings of all time. she's going to have to be smart and creative, which she's proven throughout her career she is, but a great communicator with an

openness and clarity we expect of someone in that job. >> i mean, i think -- >> and she's the mother of a son -- i was just going to say on a personal note, she's the mother of a son. she's married to a nobel laureate economist. this is a very different image for a fed chair. jillian, what you were saying about what she has to prove at the hearing. >> well, i was going to say she's clearly a very accomplished academic economist. there are two questions. first, does she understand how markets operate? she's not had much direct experience in markets. that's going to really matter given the degree of volatility we're likely to see not just this month but going forward. secondly, does she have charisma? can she tell a story that we all believe in and make the american public believe in the credibility of the fed at a time when its credibility could be really tested? the good news is, she's a very accessible person. the bad news is that as of yet, she's not really displayed the kind of powerful rhetorical

skills she might yet need. >> well, she immediately becomes the most powerful woman in the world instantly as soon as she gets nominated if she's confirmed, just as all of the international bankers are all gathering for the annual world bank imf meetings here starting tomorrow in washington. thank you, jillian. thank you, mark. we'll have live coverage of the president's big announcement this afternoon when in the state dining room he nominated janet yellen as federal reserve chair. katy perry is coming to town. can we get tickets, please??? sure how many? thank you, thank you, thank you! seriously? i get 2x the thankyou points on each ticket. the citi thankyou preferred card. now earn 2x the points on entertainment, with no annual fee. go to citi.com/thankyoucards she loves a lot of it's what you love about her. but your erectile dysfunction - that could be a question of blood flow. cialis tadalafil for daily use helps you be ready anytime the moment's right. you can be more confident in your ability to be ready. and the same cialis is the only daily ed tablet

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♪ (announcer) answer the call of the grill with new friskies grillers, full of meaty tenders and crunchy bites. this week nbc's education nation summit wrapped up with the announcement of the winners of the innovation challenge, where three teams competed to create a high-impact project that directly benefits students. joining me now are nbc's chief education correspondent rehema ellis. david, who won?

>> a terrific organization, a terrific company called code hs. >> tell us more about their project. >> so code hs was started by a couple of stanford grads. they understand that over the course of the next decade or so 1 million jobs will be made available to people who know how to code. so they're trying to figure out how to make it possible for high school students to learn how to code in a fun way so that all sorts of students from across the country have access to those great jobs. >> and that, of course, is one of the critical challenges. rehema, you've been supervising all of our coverage. you have been amazing on education year round, but certainly every year at our summit. tell me your big takeaways of what we have learned and what changes we're seeing in the education challenge and in the achievement levels in the last year. >> one of the things we should

talk about, i think, is there is good news. our graduation rate from high school is up to about 75%. that's the highest it's been in almost 40 years. that's good things that are happening. we're also narrowing the achievement gap between blacks and whites and hispanic and stu are now graduating at a rate of 68% and black students at 62%. that's all good news in this country but we have to temper it with a little bit with the fact there's a lot of work still to be done, maybe about a million kids don't graduate from high school. so there was a lot we were talking about in education nation of what needs to be done to enhance the standards for those students and not just what's happening in the classroom but also against the standards of the people who are teaching them and make certain that the kids get the best opportunities they can so they do graduate from high school and on time. >> david, what are you and the robin hood foundation see as the big challenges we in the private sector can help contribute to?

>> jobs, jobs, jobs and making sure that schools equip kids, especially our poor kids with the skills they need for those jobs going forward. united states cannot be ranked in the 20s when comes to education when it comes to countries around the world. we've got to be the top ten over the course of the next decade and number one over the course of the next 20 years. >> and what we've learned over the years in the summits, rahema, you and i, you have to do what you saw in finland and other places, you have to make teaching a really high valued profession, not because we love our teachers but valued economically and in terms of training and education and in terms of the position that teachers hold in this society. >> absolutely. it almost seems it would be a culture shift. almost it's going back to the future if you will. once upon a time teachers had one of the most highly valued positions in society in terms of

the level of respect. but i should say this also, that's sometimes we think education is an issue for people who have children in the school system. but a poll out recently by the pugh center said 70% of the american public, that's the american public, not the american public with children in schools, 70% believes improving the american education system is a top priority for the president and congress. that's up from four years ago when it was just 61%. so we're increasing in the number of people who think this is important. that's a good thing and means more people will be paying attention. >> thanks so much for the good work at the robin hood foundation and rahema, my friend and colleague, congratulations on another great summit. >> thank you. >> speaking of education, on the world stage, malala yous soufvy has given a powerful voice, she

talked about what it was like to learn under the threat of taliban. >> i used to think the taliban would come and just kill me. but then i said, if he comes, what would you malala, take it and hit him. and then i said, if you hit him with your shoe, there would be no difference, must not treat others that much cruelty and harshly. you must fight others and through dialogue and education. u have sinus pressure and pain, you feel...squeezed. congested. beat down. crushed. as if the weight of the world is resting on your face. but sudafed gives you maximum strength sinus pressure and pain relief. so you feel free. liberated. released. decongested. open for business. [ inhales, exhales ] [ male announcer ] powerful sinus relief

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. thank you for joining us for this special edition of "andrea mitchell reports" live from dover air force base. remember, follow the show online and on twitter at mitchell reports. my colleague tamron hall has a look at what's next on "news nation." we're picking up where you left off, the developing news

within the hour. the house is set to vote on a bill to reinstate death benefits currently being denied to military families because of the shutdown. plus, the picture that could come to define the outrage and frustration of this shutdown. military families have a dign y dignified transfer of their loved ones, force to pay their own way because of gridlock in washington. police in san francisco about to release new information after a woman's body was found in a hospital stairwell. it is likely a patient who disappeared two weeks ago. what happened there? and deadly distraction, officials say commuters on a california train were so glued to their smartphones, no one noticed a man flashing a gun before he shot and killed a college student. this is our "news nation" gut check.

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